After departing Huế, we drove south for a lunch stop in Da Nang, Viet Nam’s fourth largest city, passing through a new six-mile tunnel financed and built by the Japanese government along the way. (It’s important to note that a time when the US is trying to become more isolationist, China and Japan are investing in infrastructure in developing countries with growing economies). According to Yang, our guide, Da Nang has seen explosive investment growth since the communist government relaxed restrictions on private investment, with many new high rises and impressive bridges. We took time only for a brief tour of the city and an historical museum after our multi-course lunch before heading on to the ancient city of Hội An.
Old Town Hội An (which means “peaceful meeting place”), the city's historic district, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century; prominent in the city's old town, is its covered "Japanese Bridge," dating to the 16th-17th century. The town is now a very popular tourist destination with both national and international travelers, filled with restaurants, local shops, and an active pedestrian era. We began out first day in Hội An with a walking tour of the historic district and a stop at a facility which produced silk threads, turning them into fabric and hand-stitched pictures; several members of our group were fitted for bespoke articles of clothing.
Later in the day, we also visited the historic site of Mỹ Sơn, a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the kings of Champa. The temples are dedicated to the worship of the god Shiva. The site is historically important and very interesting, and it was spared from US bombing during the war because of a direct request from the South Vietnamese government to LBJ.
The second morning, we took another cyclo ride, this time through the more rural area around Hội An, ending at a pier along the Thu Bon River where we caught a boat for a ride back into the city center. Once in the old town, we sat for a cooking class where we learned to make spring rolls and Vietnamese pancakes, among other things, all of which we consumed as our lunch.